How to Choose

by   August 31, 2024 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            Do you find making decisions difficult? Some people are able to make decisions quickly and easily, while others struggle. Some decisions are easy, like deciding what to drink. Give me a glass of sweet tea. It’s the south, tea should be sweet! Other decisions require much more effort and time.

            Decisions are difficult because one decision can impact others. Some decisions might challenge our moral fiber or cause us to bend our values. How far will we compromise in order to move forward in life? Some work-related compromises might be as simple as having to rise earlier in the morning or stay later in the evening. Others decisions might require far greater.

            Promotions are great, but at what cost? If you had to move to another state, would you take the promotion? If you are single, that decision might be easier than if you are married with children. What if the promotion required you to go from first shift to second shift, would you take it?

            Deciding to buy a car is a big decision. Do you buy a new or used one? That sports car looks fun, but what will the insurance cost? One decision can impact another. Buying a house is another big decision. Which neighborhood is best? What schools will the children attend? How far is the house from work? What style house do you like?

            Another part of good decision making is seeking out great advisors. Seeking professional advice might initially cost you some money but ultimately save you money in the long run. If you choose the wrong plumber, lawyer, or doctor, you might not get the service you expect. The wrong plumber might be too expensive. The wrong lawyer may not make the right case for you. The wrong doctor could negatively impact your health. So how do you make the right choice?

            It all begins with prayer. You might argue that God is way too busy to help with my little decisions, but you would be wrong. God cares about every little detail of your life. The Bible teaches us that God knows every hair that is on your head, so that means He cares about all your decisions, even the little ones.

When you pray, ask God for wisdom and guidance as you approach the decision. I believe the most important part is to be willing to hear any choice God might have for you. Most people approach God and tell Him what they decided and ask Him to bless it. What if your decision is not His best plan for your life? How can He bless what He knows will turn out badly for you?

This step requires faith. God might open a door for you that doesn’t look like a huge blessing or a great opportunity, but in the end might be far greater than you could ever have imagined. God sees things you don’t. He might be planning for this decision to be a stepping stone, testing your obedience, before He blesses you.

I believe that seeking spiritual guidance from your pastor or other trusted spiritual leaders in your life is vital to good decision making. Spiritual leaders want the best for you and can seek God on your behalf and get a sense which direction you should go or avoid. God can use spiritual leaders to provide biblical guidance and a deeper sense of inner peace.

Ultimately we have to believe that God is in control and that He wants and will provide what is best for our lives. We also have to understand that God is going to lead us down a path, not a super highway. Paths create challenges for us. Paths cause us to seek and cry out to God for help. Paths require us to be in God’s Word so we can find our way. Paths will make us build a deeper relationship with God where we will see and experience Him as our Heavenly Father.

I want to encourage you to bring every decision before God and seek His guidance in your life. I understand that daily routine decisions don’t require us to seek God but we have to understand that God wants to be invited into our daily routines just as much as life’s bigger decisions. He has made great plans for our lives and has hidden treasures along the path for us. We have to slow down, seek His face, listen, and be willing to wait on Him if we want to make good choices. His wisdom and love will guide us if we seek and invite His direction.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Another of the Greatest

by   August 30, 2024 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

Driving out of the cemetery, my wife and I passed the worker’s truck. Parked a respectable distance from the grave site we had just left, it was loaded with the equipment and supplies needed for its work:  Shovels, rakes, and folded, green pads that were designed to imitate grass. An attached trailer carried a small backhoe. Soon, after all the friends, family, loved ones, and funeral home employees had left, the workers would drive the truck with its load down the hill to finish the covering of a life. This grave was like all the others in the cemetery, just newer; but also different because it was Paul’s, one of The Greatest Generation.

In 1998 Tom Brokaw published The Greatest Generation, an examination of American’s lives who were born between WW I and WW II. Paul was born in 1926, not many years after the Spanish Flu and WW I, and just in time for the Great Depression. Later, after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and entered WW II.

The Greatest Generation is called that because they endured the hardships of the Great Depression, then a world at war.  But the lessons from the Great Depression and the war are what helped form the character of Americans like Paul. During the Great Depression they learned the value of a strong work ethic, being frugal, and “making do.” During the war they fought, died, sacrificed, and joined forces to defeat an evil so that the world would be a better place. Yet their struggles did not make them bitter or resentful but caring and loving and appreciative of each other and a stable life. All of them, soldiers, ship builders returned home and carried on with their live.  Their fight against the evil threatening the world was just what they had to do.

Paul and Jean were the first people we met at FBC of Mooresville. On our first visit, they welcomed us and on the second visit Jean told us, “We’re so glad you returned.” That was over three years ago, but I still recall their kind words and impeccable manner and dress. However, before many Sundays, they stopped attending church for health reasons, but their imprint had been made on my wife and me.

These were my thoughts yesterday as I listened to the minister, sang the songs, and heard the shared memories of a son-in-law. The small, well-dressed man we knew from Sunday Service had helped establish a local church. He had led a full, vibrant life in his beloved community, and he was loved dearly by his family and friends.  We had met him late in his  life, but as I watched his grandsons tearfully carry his flag-draped casket from the hearse to the grave, I was reminded that while I had met Paul late in his life, I was still fortunate to have known him at all because, even in those waning days, he exhibited courage, loyalty, and sacrifice. His experiences in a depression and war had marked him; however,  the mark was not a stain but a badge of honor. Brokaw used the adjective greatest, and that is fine. However, other adjectives such as magnificent, extraordinary, or grand well-describe Paul and his generation. But the adjective is of no matter because Paul and his are The Great Generation.

I suppose that by the time we had arrived home from the service, the workmen had finished their task and Paul had, as King David wrote, “gone the way of the world.” But he and all his generation-the soldiers, the planters of victory gardens, the ship builders, the children who collected metal for the war cause, and more-are honored by those of us who still value honesty, loyalty, sacrifice, and duty to a just cause. They are not “suckers” or “losers” as some think, but lives lived for a common good. They made our world safer and better. We owe them to continue their work.

Upcoming Races

by   August 29, 2024 with No Comments

By David Freeze

   We have another Prediction Run on Saturday, August 24th at 8:30 am at City Park. Free to SRR members, prediction runs are open to anyone. Any non-members who pay the registration fee become members for a year. No watches, no phones and you’ll guess your total time prior to walking or running 3.1 miles. Closest to the predicted time wins and the top three get nice prizes. Everyone gets refreshments and plenty of fun.

     September has the new Hugh Bost Memorial 5K in Rockwell on the 7th, honoring the long-time police chief and raising money for Rowan County K9 programs. Next comes the Run for the Word 5K in Landis, now in its third year, on September 14th. Proceeds go for the South Rowan Bible Teachers Association since the state does not fund those teachers. New this year, Landis special police officers, Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney have offered to make sure everything goes well in their favorite town. And the 21st brings the Town of Spencer’s Race to the River 5K. Formerly an afternoon event, the race moves to a 9am start that includes very fast miles 2 and 3 downhill to the river finish. 

     October has the new Back Creek Church Harvest Run 5K on October 5th. This is a totally rural course starting and finishing at the historic church in the western part of our county. Next up on the 12th is the Dolphin Dash at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The race benefits the school and is our only cross-country 5K with the entire course on grass and dirt. Then we go into Halloween mode for the St. Matthews 5K on Saturday, October 26th. Another rural race benefits church members or area residents with significant health concerns and expenses. Sunday, the 27th, has the long-running Spooky Sprint 5K where all proceeds go to Rotary programs. New this year is a course that includes the Catawba College Shuford Stadium track, softball area and the Salisbury Greenway.

     Also, in the fall will be our regular races at Grace Lutheran Church with the Clean Water 5K on November 9th and the fast-growing Butterball 5K on the 28th. December has the Freeze Your Buns 5K on the 7th and SRR’s long running Santa Run for Hunger 5K on the 14th.

     All of these races have a fun run except the Butterball, and all are on Saturdays except the Thanksgiving Day Butterball and the Sunday Spooky Sprint.

     Our fall Beginning Runners Class will begin on Thursday, September 5th. As usual, 8 weeks of classes at the Salisbury PD building at Lee and Liberty. If all goes well, I hope to participate in the class as a returning runner following my back injury in May.

     I love these classes and it’s always fun to meet the new people who take them. These classes have been offered for more than 20 years and the Salisbury PD is a wonderful host. We start with a half mile distance on the first night and we’ll finish with running a 5K on the last evening. Eight weeks, all on Thursdays, beginning on September 5th at 6pm. Participants will learn about topics including shoes and equipment, stretching and strengthening, nutrition, injury prevention, safety and running form.

     Just a quick note about my back. I no longer have to wear the back brace, and I have less restrictions. My back is healing and if all goes well, I should be able to try running again in a couple of months. I have been cleared to ride a stationary bike but not a real one. Thanks for the incredible prayers and support!

     Remember the feeling you get from a good run is way better than the feeling you get when sitting around wishing you were running! I know this for sure.

Gotta’ Run: Upcoming Rowan races

Be Happy

by   August 28, 2024 with No Comments

By Ed Traut

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

  • So often it feels not to be rejoicing or excited when we have so many challenges but;
  • There is strength and power in praise and rejoicing.
  • To rejoice in God and the Lord, because He never changes, He is our strength.

Prayer:  Lord I choose and I live to worship You and to rejoice today, I lift my hands in excitement and rejoicing to You because You are God regardless of what I am going through or what surrounds me, You are my strength.  Amen.

Ed Traut
Prophetic Life

PLEASE Pray for David & Lynna

by   August 27, 2024 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

Just wanted to let you know that my beloved David has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He started chemo yesterday and so far has done well. Would you make a special effort to pray for him? It would mean so much to us both. I had a whole blog written about how good the Lord is in the time of trouble, but it disappeared. The gist of it was that bad things happen to everyone, whether we serve Jesus or not. But the Lord is wise and has a plan to love us well.

But I bet you know that. So anyway, pray for strength for us both. In the meantime, we will “go in the strength that we have.” from Judges 6:14.

By the way, I’m not on Facebook, but you can leave a message in the comments below. It feels good to know folks are praying.

In His care,

Lynna

The Struggle is Real

by   August 26, 2024 with No Comments

By Rhonda Sassano

I already feel like this isn’t gonna work this time . . . . Daughter #2.    Daughter #1….the move out….the wedding….the no-keeping grand baby.  the job.  the rent.  the house search.  It’s all of it, Jesus.  The struggle with my website.  so no clients.  no time to paint or create.  very limited time to engage with You.

I just can’t, Father.  I can’t keep going like this.  My heart is too heavy to keep protectting and keep holding together. . .  like it’s made of lead instead of flesh.  

WHERE A R E  YOU???  I called and You didn’t come . . . I”m dragging my heart from valley to cave to hiding place looking for You.  

Trying to be silent until You rescue me.  But i don’t see you  sense you  feel you  find you   . . .    anywhere.

I want to command You.  Command You to come.  to fix.  to heal.   to right.  to halt.   to show.   to explain.  to divulge.   to enlighten.

to hear me

But even more, I want to be LIKE You.  I want to be who You made me to be.  And that is impossible unless I live by the Spirit and not by the flesh.  Impossible while the flesh lives.  DIE, FLESH, DIE.  But i don’t want to.  Flesh is fun.  Feels like my only fun, my only joy.  my only champion.  the only one who understands and sympathizes.  I feel like the constant pain gives me the right to indulge.  to skim over.  To pass by.  LIke, if You aren’t there for me, I have to be there for myself.  take care of myself.  defend myself.  protect myself.  joy myself.   peace myself.  

I am exhausted by all the breaking.

All these little points of disobedience are my way of . . . . . protesting.  rebelling.   S  I  N  N  I  N  G .      and in spite of everything, i don’t know that i’m ready to give it up.  No.  My flesh isn’t ready.  

BUT MY SPIRIT IS . . .           And so I will.    And i do.

J E S U S   YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!

I’ve made it a habit to disobey….created strongholds by own hands…..Trying not to make a list here.  to not make them my focus.  I focus on You. Your goodnes., Your faithfulness. Your mercy.  Your grace.   I bury the promise in WHO YOU ARE.  

Holy Spirit, remind me to keep my focus on You and let the temptation to do it all for myself fade into background.  Ignoring is my superpower…

1 2 3 4 5